Craigix's Interview

Craigix: Dave told me about it, so i got one, back when no one knew what it was.

Hooka: Cool, what did Dave say that convinced you?

Craigix: The power. It was like an american muscle car from the 1960's! Just chuck in a massive engine and force the thing to go fast, no aerodynamics, just cubic inches. or in this case mhz.

Hooka: Why did you decide to start selling them?

Craigix: Because I liked it, there was something crazy about it at the time. the potential, how it was unknown. I mean who the fuck were gamepark? Some korean kids make this nintendo killer out of nowhere. I'd follow that anytime over the GBA commercial big business ideal.

Hooka: Don't like the commercial dev scene as much as the homebrew?

Craigix: I hate the games industry. It's one big scam for most programmers. I know this from experience. Just trying to get paid is a whole job in itself.

Hooka: Harsh!

Craigix: It's true, apart from a select few houses/publishers... but that's all in the past now, everything is cool now. I'm happy with obscure handhelds.

Hooka: What GP32 games have you worked on? (I know you worked on Doom1/2 and a couple others but inform the readers ;) )

Craigix: The drunken series, drunken frogger, drunken arcade master, and now the final in the trilogy which will be the strangest of them all and I also have done some other stuff. A port of M.A.M.E.'s 8080 section as a test to see how fast the C core z80 emu ran at. I have also half ported loads of stuff : a bbc micro emu, heretic, burgertime, more mame drivers.

Hooka: What GBA games have you worked on?

Craigix: GBA... a game for datel, which Costis managed to get the money they owed me for it, make sense of that... (actually I should really follow that up before he spends it on hacking gamecube's) and some other stuff, little games and stuff, I don't always put my name on them and i did some commercial stuff on the GBC.

Hooka: Well, I know for sure you pointed out some of them on the GP32X boards (the homebrew) cause they work with GPAdvanced.

Craigix: Yes, I think absoluteX (a game for datel) is one of the fastest games in GPadvanced.

Hooka: Cool!

Craigix: Oh dear, I've just been given more alcohol!

Hooka: :) lol, this'll be fun then...

Hooka: What commercial stuff did you work on for GBC? (or do you not want that known?)

Craigix: You know... the GBC... there are loads of games which went unreleased.

Hooka: Ahh.

Craigix: I think that in 10 years when there is a 'world of GBC' archive people will search for these games! At the end of the GBC's life publishers shelved lots of games.

Hooka: So I gotta go find somebody and beat them up for all the GBC beta's that went unreleased ;)

Craigix: And what's really tragic is that some of these pushed the hardware to extents never seen before.

Hooka: So it was great technological feats for the GBC but Nintendo flushed 'em all?

Craigix: You look at mayhem in monsterland for the C64... it was amazing yet too late, some of these GBC games were just as amazing as that.

Hooka: Cool, I'll have to check out that game later.

Craigix: It does not work in frodo ;)

Hooka: It's one of those emu's can't run but runs real good on hardware type games?

Craigix: Yes, It pushed the hardware to new levels but it was all too late.

Hooka: ok... damn that's cool.

Hooka: Have you done any other development other than the above mentioned Handhelds?

Craigix: Amiga and spectrum, but now your going back to school days :D I'm always disappointed I didn't get an amiga game published.

Hooka: Why what stopped you?

Craigix: I was only 14.

Hooka: Ahh, yeah that could be quite a hindrance!

Craigix: I used to make really good demos and send them off and they would ask me to go down and see them and stuff and i was too young :-/

Hooka: They should realise that a coder is a coder no matter what age! (and coding should be taught in school as a class if a student wants it!)

Craigix: It should be your right, but you can see their point, they knew that i would take a long time to get anything done because stuff just gets in the way when your 14.

Hooka: Yeah, true enough.

Hooka: Have you done any coding for the Zodiac yet?

Craigix: I've looked at the zodiac, but it isn't as user friendly as the GBA or GP32... I also think the Zodiac is over priced.

Hooka: Agreed, otherwise I'd already have one ;)

Craigix: That might be its downfall, especially with the PSP and DS coming... they will sell at a loss.

Hooka: What's your opinion of Zodiac commercial games?

Craigix: Well it has echos of GP32 commercial games, it seems you have to pay for a lot more on the Z it's more commercial.

Hooka: Yeah, and the GPL problems and DAA restrictions make it seem very closed.

Craigix: Tapwave might well release a freelauncher... but it will be too little too late the way things are going... I dunno... they are planning a UK release but at what price? I think its a shame, the idea was good but they have gone about it in an odd way.

Hooka: The only thing I've noticed Zodiac has going that GP32 doesn't is a XCOM clone... although they haven't had there games cracked... yet.

Craigix: Well it has a lot of palm things too, but I think it's not sure what it is, it's confused and so are people who see it. I think the gp32 is very unique, has there ever been a system like it ever before? The system is 100% supported by the scene and everything is free and it's always been this way with the GP32, it's not like it was some system which had commercial success at one point, like say the DC.

Hooka: Yeah, the GP32 is a very cheap system for the amount of games you get if you think about it!

Hooka: What is your personal opinion of the Treamcast?

Craigix: It's too expensive, the TC is just a DC in a new case with a screen. it should be much cheaper. It's a collectors item.

Hooka: Apparently Sega wasn't too happy about it when Lik-Sang first talked about it, that's for sure ;)

Craigix: However, our great discovery the 'Gameking' is great! I demand the finest gameking emulator.

Craigix: They are clones as much as any 2D games are these days... it has such a low resolution but the games are such quality, I played the metal slug clone for about 3 hours trying to get past level 2, its rock solid and great fun.

Hooka: oh cool! a Metal Slug clone :) well, I just might have to get one now!

Craigix: What amazes me is how they got all these games into one of the lowest resolutions i've ever seen!

Hooka: What's the actual resolution of it?

Craigix: Well, I could count the pixels but ... i'd rather guess. about 50*40. I love it, but then I like these things.

Hooka: Good choice, probably would've taken awhile to count the pixels drunk...

Craigix: You know I had the original FLU but I gave it to erm... that guy...

Hooka: What do you mean by original FLU?

Craigix: Hang on hang on I'm remembering...

Hooka: Ok.

Craigix: DJWillis, so he could continue SCUMMVM it still works, although its battered and bruised.

Hooka: Oh yeah, he told me about that :)

Craigix: It been through a lot, its the whore of the gp32 species.

Hooka: Ahh, used and been around the block ;)

Craigix: Yeah, the scene bike.

Craigix: I sent it to DJ selotaped together with cables hanging out of it.

Hooka: Well, I guess for free and working still not too bad...

Craigix: Oh I give them away all the time when drunk.

Hooka: Send me a BLU ;)

Craigix: I should really stop coming into gp32dev after a night.

Hooka: Well, I tried...

Craigix: Hahaha no, it only works if I offer.

Craigix: You're weak.

Hooka: Yeah, I figured I was just joking around.

Craigix: Hehehe.

Hooka: Why don't you sell GP32 commercial games is there no demand for them?

Craigix: I would sell them... now, I have views on this! Gamepark are idiots they publish shit like 'treasure island' and won't even answer emails regarding 'Pinball dreams' so I would sell them if gamepark would just publish the right ones. Anyway, what was the last game they published? Heh probably something from 2002. I'd sell 'her knights' but they don't have any copies left.

Hooka: Yeah, they can be retards when it comes to the business/marketing/advertising... but atleast they made good hardware ;P

Craigix: Yes, they have made some interesting prototypes too.

Hooka: I think the last ones made were GPFight and Bug Eyed Monsters.

Craigix: Bug eyed is about right, that's what people probably were when they saw what they had paid for!

Hooka: I agree those first prototypes I saw on Lik-Sang looked pretty cool! (not the one FX-Man has, the older ones although that one is pretty cool too)

Craigix: They have made things post GP32.

Hooka: Really? What?

Craigix: Just more powerful stuff. I used to speak to someone there about it, I think they have moved over to compact flash or one of the other formats, touch screen, more ram, etc. Although the CPU was compatible, but I guess the final product will have a different cpu in it as I think they want 400mhz+ that is of course if it happens at all.

Craigix: Gamepark are very strange, you know the GP32 was originally supposed to be an Atari product but the deal fell through... probably because Atari got sick of unanswered emails ;)

Hooka: Actually, no I didn't.

Craigix: Yeah, it was called the 'atari move' or something like that.

Hooka: But it would be cool to see a newer/more powerful system with the same type of community/following but it'd have to have that open source aspect to it!

Craigix: Yes it would, we will probably see something around xmas

Hooka: What is your opinion on the way the GBAX competitions have gone?

Craigix: Well they have been a great success :) remember guyfawkes helped out a lot. I hope they can be a regular thing for many years!

Hooka: I hope you have luck with it! I know I've enjoyed alot of the programs that have come from your competitions :)

Craigix: We like to support the scene, in fact I love the scene, other sites just want to make money, I like to help the scene and give stuff back.

Hooka: Do you already have plans for a new competition soon?

Craigix: Well whenever there is a lul I chuck in a 15 days :)

Hooka: Cool!

Craigix: I really don't understand why some people attack the competitions saying they wreck the scene... over 200 games/demos have came from them

Craigix: I suppose you can't please all the people all the time...

Hooka: Yeah, could you explain a little on what was up with the "trying to destroy GP32 scene" rumors?

Hooka: I'd be thinking that'd be demolishing part of your own business...

Craigix: I don't know. I tried to speak to drum master about it but I didn't get any solid answers, he does not like our attempts to see how fast GP32's can be clocked to or trying ram upgrades or us having anything to do with the Zodiac. What can I say... I have given away over 25 (!!) GP32's to devers and magazines. I can't see how I can support the scene anymore than I have, I even got a half page article into FHM.

Hooka: Wow!!

Craigix: And there is more to come... in a few days.

Hooka: Really what month of FHM?

Craigix: It was a while ago, but I have the issue, people scanned it in and posted it when it happen it was in the euro/uk edition, so I think I support the scene as much as anyone... maybe you could interview drum master about it.

Hooka: I already interviewed him... about 3 days before he said that...

Craigix: Well hey, have him back on the show! Maybe you could have us BOTH at the same time. I'd like that ride!

Hooka: ;) I'll see if I can... not sure if I'd get hit by a stray bullet though...

Hooka: Why do you have just the NGP and no NGPC?

Craigix: Oh we do have the NGPC I just have to get round to adding it :)

Hooka: Oh, cool.

Craigix: Often because of the nature of the product's stuff sells out within hours so we try to stockpile it.

Hooka: What other stuff is still off the shelves?

Craigix: Just classic stuff, it's hard to source.

Hooka: Cool, it's hard to find some of the more obscure add-ons and old systems nowadays.

Craigix: Yes, a lot of sites sell second hand stuff from markets, etc. I avoid that I like everything boxed and sealed.

Hooka: cool :)

Hooka: I've only ever ONCE seen a boxed and sealed Sega Nomad... but it was about 4 years ago but the price tag was $167.98 or something and the sticker looked quite a few years old!

Craigix: I've never came across a supply, all the ones online now are just cleaned up second hand stuff I wonder how many sega made...

Hooka: I'm not really sure.

Hooka: What size of LCD/TV's do you plan on adding to the site eventually?

Craigix: Oh, that page is done, 8" and down for now, I must make that live :) but I've been working on the affiliate system I don't trust other people so I code everything myself.

Hooka: How does your affiliate system work?

Craigix: Same as others, but can be more personal to the affiliate, we will offer 15% too, and out average sale price is much higher than any other store it should be a big success.

Hooka: Cool

Hooka: Why did you decide to do an extended competition right after the GBAX2004 competition?

Craigix: Well we had the GP32 BLU to give away, and we though about the past criticism about no entries are ever worked on again after the comp ends... so lets try and see if we can resurrect any old entries. It was worth a try.

Hooka: Good idea, and hey Flubba got himself a GP32 ;)

Craigix: Yes, a person who definitely deserved it!

Hooka: Yeah, I'd like to have a GBA just to try out the SCD support!

Craigix: If I were gamepark I'd have paid someone to port the quake engine.

Hooka: But that would've been smart of them ;P

Craigix: They were smart by snapping up the 2 media players.

Hooka: Touche!

Hooka: Definitely one of the better commercial GP32 programs

Craigix: It's frustrating there is like the odd moment of genius surrounded by Clouseau-like disaster.

Hooka: ??? Did you mean like Clouseau surrounded by disaster?

Craigix: No, the way I said it... I think I was using his name like a verb or whatever.

Hooka: Ok :)

Craigix: Infact just imagine like a huge games show, Gamepark would wander round it like Clouseau... they would probably accidently set fire to their own stand!

Hooka: lol

Hooka: What's your favorite GP32 game/utility?

Craigix: Hmmm, probably GPengine :) very polished emu.

Hooka: Nothing better than an Ebichu background and Bonk on the go! and yes, it runs very well!

Craigix: I think that maybe by next year we will see the final stages of the scene that is things becoming perfect, or as near as they will get.

Hooka: Hopefully I learn to code by then if that's the case either that or I'll be sitting there still coding on Wolf3D while everyone else is gone ;P

Craigix: It would be cool to have as near to perfect as possible Wolf, Doom and Quake.

Hooka: Yeah, I agree.

Craigix: I have some cake here you could have some but I can't reach...

Hooka: lol

Craigix: I'll eat it for you, apparently I need to put some weight on.

Hooka: Sounds good :)

Craigix: You know, I just finished another project.

Hooka: What's the new project?

Hooka: Restored an old cadillac?

Craigix: Yeah.

Hooka: Cool, it looks like a deville... right?

Craigix: It has a GP32 in it.

Craigix: Yes its a deville convertible.

Hooka: Built in or just sitting in it?

Craigix: Built in, sort of.

Hooka: Cool.

Craigix: To control the music and stuff and this year has been the worst summer on record in the UK, what a year to have a convertible.

Hooka: Cold over there? or just rainy?

Craigix: It's warm, it's just raining a lot.

Hooka: Ah.

Craigix: I'd not mind if its cold, i'd just put on a jumper and who cares!

Hooka: True enough.

Craigix: But rain, arrgh, I've had enough, I'm moving to spain and from spain I shall sell mod chips ;) since they are all legal there!

Hooka: Nice! Same with Australia too, right?

Craigix: I'm not sure... I know italy and spain they are legal but I don't even have a PS2 or Xbox! So what the hell am I talking about?

Hooka: I got a broken PS2 (don't use the no solder modchips, shucking fieces of pit!)

Craigix: I loved GTA3 and hated GTA: vice city.

Hooka: I prefer the originals but 3 and VC aren't too bad...

Craigix: Hey man i'm sobering up and you got next to nothing seedy out of me

Hooka: (Well I did rearrange words from the unedited interview to make something seedy ;) note this is nowhere near what craigix said...part of the sentence is stuff I said...) "Craigix: I should sell control of the whore of the GP32 scene to the good states channels here on satellite ;P it being known as good all round that small area with the flexible sigmoidoscope I thought was lost, then bam! too bad it was a dead body!"

Craigix: You should watch hardtalk on bbcnews24 that guy can draw blood from a stone

Hooka: lol

Hooka: Us canadians don't get bbc (atleast I don't as far as I know...)

Craigix: Heh odd, you can get bbc in the USA.

Hooka: We can't even get the good states channels here on satellite ;P

Craigix: I was looking through the cable stuff the other day, there are like 400 channels here.

Hooka: :O

Craigix: I'm sure at any one time there must be channels no one is watching!

Hooka: For sure... the flexible sigmoidoscope channel...

Craigix: The baking on bread channel...

Hooka: Watching paint dry channel...

Hooka: Did you use firefly's heretic source as the base of your port or did you re-port heretic?

Craigix: I have looked at his code but decided it was better to wait until doom was near perfect then work from that or it would mean updating 2.

Hooka: Do you still plan on releasing the heretic port or any of your other half-ports?

Craigix: Yes, in time, I am always so busy but am also so lazy, it isn't a good match.

Hooka: But understandable :)

Hooka: What do you see for the future of the GP32?

Craigix: Emus and ports being slowly completed then just it being known as a good all round portable emulator. I don't think we will ever see commercial success.

Craigix: And i'm not too pleased with lik-sangs devious 'upto 166mhz' crap the overclockability of the BLU is exactly the same as the previous GP32's.

Hooka: Yeah, my normal GP32 goes 256Mhz in Mr. Mirko's tester...

Craigix: Yes, its all down to chance.

Hooka: Don't like running it like that for too long though.

Craigix: Well we have been unable to get a blu to go above about 188mhz it seems there is a limit on them if anything they overclock worse.

Hooka: Harsh...

Hooka: What do you use to test the GP32's?

Craigix: GpQuake, mirkos testerfor 188Mhz and for 166Mhz we used OpenSNES9XGP and GPDoom. 30% of them won't goto 166mhz.

Hooka: Wow, that's alot lower amount than I'd expected!

Craigix: Ah, but some freeze after a while, out of the last 100 Blu's we tested 30 would not go there, and another 10 had issues at 166mhz.

Hooka: So they can goto 166Mhz, they just freeze eventually?

Craigix: Yes after a few mins or 15mins or so.

Hooka: Like my first GP32 (except it only went to 156Mhz... thank play-asia for there wonderful warranty!)

Craigix: I don't like lik-sang putting 166mhz on all their banners as its just not true. Well I read a thread where someone was going to try to return it but in their small print it says something. It did piss me off a bit though, as we spend money making sure they run at 166mhz.

Hooka: Yeah, I can understand that!

Hooka: How many GP32's have you sold to date?

Craigix: Thousands.

Hooka: Cool!

Craigix: b3ta is to thank for kickstarting things I think they featured it in their news letter.

Hooka: nice :)

Craigix: All hail rob manuel

Hooka: Oh, back to the scandal! Why did you pay yoyofr to make osnes9x and then enter it into your competition so that you'd have to give him a prize? (lol, I remember when someone on the GP32x boards said this..)

Craigix: I sent a truck to his house, full of wine. I must destroy GBAX's best selling product!

Hooka: how did he code if he drank a truck full of wine?

Craigix: Some people do their best work when drunk, Matthew Smith wrote manic miner while drunk and high and it's one of the best games ever!

Craigix: And I'll be even more smashed for part 3 the most crazy of them all I hope.

Hooka: :) Can you give us any hints as to what part 3 is gonna be like?

Craigix: As confusing and weird to figure out as possible...

Hooka: Cool.

Hooka: lol, I like how you have stolen the lik-sang *Upto 166mhz*

Craigix: Yes. had to do fucking something... they don't support the scene anyway.

Hooka: Which type of BLU do you sell the most of?

Craigix: The bastard 180mhz. which is impossible to meet demand on it's going to end up being an ebay item I think.

Hooka: Does it have some special modified programs that go to 180Mhz that come with it?

Craigix: Some yes, just hex modded, I have a fgen with 180mhz option, but its actually slightly older than the current version, I'll have to harass Rob or Ryleh ;) It's worth knowing Fgen is FS0 with sound at 180mhz so that is the needed speed for perfect emulation on the gp.

Hooka: :O with which version the christmas release? or a newer one than that?

Craigix: Nah, a version from a few days before the last release, it has no splash screen.

Hooka: Oh

Hooka: I can't wait to play sonic 2 or 3 with sound ;P

Craigix: Alas there are issues with Reesy's z80 core maybe fDave will suddenly surprise everyone? fDave surprised me with gigadrive, I sent him a GP32 like a year before he released that :) I thought it was a lost cause, then bam!

Hooka: Oh yeah, he's still working on HAZE isn't he?

Craigix: I'm not sure what he's upto, but I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

Hooka: Hmmm, wonder if the same'll happen with Flubba...

Craigix: Well I think most of the GP32's which have been given away have been worth the investment, at the moment I think i'm most excited about GPquake.

Hooka: Yeah, I can't wait for a release with the ability to go under water :) even if there's no speed increase... and the gamma code fixed too.

Craigix: You know you can go underwater in the current one just drop the res a bit and it works.

Hooka: Hmm? Really... I dropped the res a bit to speed it up but I didn't try going in the water cause I thought it'd freeze... I'll have to try that :)

Hooka: So do you use Rob's voltage mod to ensure the GP32's OC? and how different are the BLU's?

Craigix: Yes Rob is the man, they procedure is the same, that part of the MB has not changed. Maltloaf does the mods.

Hooka: Cool.

Craigix: I once found a dead body!

Hooka: In your trunk?

Craigix: Nah, next to the river.

Hooka: Did you poke it with a stick?

Craigix: It was frozen and there were crabs eating it.

Hooka: Hmm, slept with the wrong prostitute huh?

Craigix: I wrote it up a few years ago here, might be worth a link, it's probably the most interesting thing I ever found.

Hooka: Cool :)

Craigix: I think that when I make drunken arcade 3 I will make a prize for the first person to complete it.

Hooka: Cool, how will you know?

Craigix: I did it with a pc game I made once in 1997 and I have my ways.

Hooka: Cool, is it only planned to be a trilogy?

Craigix: Yes.

Thank you craigix for the entertaining to write (and heck to edit) interview ;) I found it both fun and informative! I hope the readers agree.